Shinhan Investment Securities has announced a groundbreaking investment recommendation. During a press conference on September 8, 2026, at the Korea Exchange building in Yeouido, Seoul, the firm officially recommended that clients allocate 2% of their total investment portfolio to digital assets.
The announcement ends a cautious, hands-off stance maintained by South Korean financial institutions over the past nine years. Since the government enacted tightening policies in 2017, banks and securities firms have been strictly prohibited from investing directly in the crypto market.
Why the 60/40 Strategy Is Being Abandoned
The recommendation to reallocate capital stems from the weakening resilience of traditional portfolios. Shinhan senior researcher Park Woo-yeol revealed that the strategy of splitting funds into 60% equities and 40% bonds is no longer as effective at cushioning market losses.
The primary issue lies in price correlation. With equities and bonds increasingly moving in the same direction lately, their diversification benefits have eroded. Shinhan proposed a new hedging asset mix consisting of 8% alternative assets and 2% digital assets. Bitcoin was selected to fully occupy that 2% allocation, establishing an 8:2 ratio between gold and Bitcoin within the portfolio’s safe-haven bucket.
The opening of securities doors to crypto aligns with the government’s broader regulatory agenda. South Korean officials are currently finalizing the draft of the Digital Asset Basic Act, accompanied by a regulatory framework for cross-border stablecoin circulation.
Signals of policy easing have been emerging since July 2026. At that time, the government unveiled revised plans for crypto ETFs, along with stablecoin legislation and guidelines for issuing tokenized government bonds. South Korea’s Ministry of Economy and Finance is also preparing to integrate digital assets into its new state asset management framework.
Competition Against 23-Hour Exchanges
Beyond domestic policy shifts, pressure to embrace crypto also comes from intensifying competition among global brokerages. Nasdaq’s plan to expand trading hours to 23 hours a day threatens to capture daily trading volume from Asian markets. Seamless US trading hours allow Asian investors to trade anytime, cutting into the dominance of local Korean exchange hours.
The threat to traditional securities firms does not end there. Park highlighted the growing advantage of crypto exchanges that are starting to freely trade real-world financial instruments. Assets once exclusive to official brokerage accounts - such as stocks, bonds, commodities, and ETFs - are steadily becoming available on crypto platforms.
“The competition between traditional and digital finance has begun,” Park told reporters. As both sides race to offer products to capture capital inflows, investors are left watching the wall between legacy brokerage accounts and blockchain wallets steadily crumble. Reported by crypto.news.
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Disclaimer: This article is for informational and educational purposes only, not financial advice. Cryptocurrency assets are highly volatile and carry significant risk. Always do your own research (DYOR) and never invest more than you can afford to lose.
